9 Concluding Remarks

The history of Maltese in Australia started over 180 years ago when isolated individuals were forced to "migrate" as convicts at the beginning of the 19th century. Migration to Australia up to the 1920s was minimal with the Maltese-born population at the 1921 census being only 1330. However, this increased at a considerable rate, and reached a climax in the 1950s and 1960s when up to 10,000 migrants left Malta for Australia every year. Indeed, at this time, more Maltese settled in Australia than in any other country of the world. Obviously the Maltese migrant compared Australia with the other countries like the UK, Canada and US and preferred, or found it easier, to settle in Australia. By the late 1970s the number of new migrants coming to Australia became much less and at present the rate is about 500 per year, and more people go back to Malta to retire than are prepared to come to Australia to settle.

Source: Maurice N. Cauchi - Maltese Migrants in Australia, Malta 1990

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